Everyday Plagues
By Rev. William Dohle
I love Hollywood...don't get me wrong. I watch more television and movies than many clergy, even those my age.
But sometimes Hollywood gets it wrong. Sometimes to show the drama they have to make it out to be more than it actually was.
That was their mistake in their latest offering on the History Channel, "The Bible." In typical Hollywood fashion they took artistic liberties in portraying every one of the Bible stories. Liberties that, I believe, diminished the story itself in many cases.
Take the text we have before us today. The Ten Plagues. Countless screenwriters and directors have tried to imagine what the plagues were like. The show "The Bible" does the same. Dramatically, Moses approaches Pharaoh time and again and Pharaoh dramatically says "No!" Then comes the plagues, each of which are more supernatural than the last. First the river turning to blood, then the death of the animals, then the locusts, then the darkness. (Yes, the movie takes dramatic liberties with the order of the plagues too.).
This is all well and good...except that I don't think that's how the plagues went. Oh they happened, don't get me wrong. And they were God's work. But God doesn't work in Hollywood style. He doesn't today, and I don't think he did back then
Why?? Well... for starters when Aaron throws his staff down in front of Pharaoh and it becomes a snake(a miracle the mini-series never shows)...Pharaoh's magicians do the same! "Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers and the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their secret art. Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake." (Ex 7:11-12a). Or when the river turns to blood, Pharaoh (who is not bathing in it at the time) turns to his magicians who "...did the same thing by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said."(Ex 6:22) Turns out...Pharaoh's magicians could do this too!
In fact, if you look closely scientifically you will discover most of the plagues Moses brings occur naturally. There were times(before the dams went up on the Nile) that the river would become like blood because of the silt floating in it. Even the fish in the river would die because they couldn't breathe. There were, at those very times, a multitude of frogs that would come up from the river. Those frogs, when they died on land, would also bring in swarms of gnats and biting flies and those flies would bring the disease that caused the boils and that killed all the livestock in the land. Even the plague of locusts have been reproduced...TODAY...where in the Holy Land they are suffering from such a plague!
So...what makes the plagues unique or special? Well... it's not that they happened outside the natural order of things but that nature itself was used by God to free his chosen people, Israel. God used creation to rescue his chosen people. He didn't go outside of it. He didn't send his angels and create a stir. Instead, God used what was already around them so that "...you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians."(Ex 6:7) He used what he had already created to rescue and redeem Israel.
Too often we look for some supernatural answer to our everyday problems. We think that, because we pray, God should move heaven and earth to rescue us. We wonder why God works plagues back at the time of Moses but doesn't act that way now. Thinking these things are extra-ordinary, we look for extra-ordinary answers to our own prayers. A cure no one saw coming. A surprise gift from a stranger. A miracle that can't be explained.
But most times God doesn't work this way. Occasionally, yes, but most of the time God speaks to us through His Word, through His Creation, and through other people. That is how the love of God is communicated. That is where the answer comes to our prayers.
We pray for strength...and we find relatives popping up to help us out. Relatives who take some of the burden so we can rest. We pray for healing...and we find a new lease on life that helps us appreciate every moment of every day more. We look for faith...and we are surrounded by our family and friends at church as they pray for us.
God's worked with his creation to save his people Israel, to bring them out of captivity. God can work with creation in your life too, to comfort you, to strengthen you, and to bring you a future and a hope.
Open my eyes that I may see you working the extraordinary through the ordinary events of my life. Help me recognize you there and give you thanks. Amen.
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